eels LT 
tii, are placed oppofite to each other. I 
cannot poflibly find language to convey 
the fenfations which I felt at the fight of 
thofe two admirable matter-pieces : I fhall 
only endeavour to develope the {ublime 
plan of the former of thofe paintings. 
The compofition of the Brutus is in 
the higheft degree poctic: never has Poé- 
fy given more fuccefsful aidto Painting 5 
nor has the fpeétator ever been more 
powerfully enchanted by the charming 
union. The hero to whom the Roman 
republic owed her foundation, condemned 
to death his own fons who were convitt- 
ed of treafon, offering them a facrifice for 
the falvation of Rome, and by that ac- 
tion, as father of his country, feeming to 
adopt the Roman people as his children *. 
—With that confolatory idea, this jadge, 
svho had fhewn himfelf inflexible in the 
cafe of his fons, has, after the execution 
of the fentence, withdrawn to his own 
houfe where he had left his wife and his 
two daughterst. This is the moment 
which Dayid feized for his compofition. 
In the veltibule of the houfe ftands the 
guardian goddefs of his country, Dea 
Roma, on whofe altar he had facrificed 
the affeStions of a father, and {worn to 
a& in the fole capacity of judge. He is 
feated, in a funk dejefted attitude, on the 
edeftal of the ftatue, his head in penfive 
mood fupported by his hand, while his 
countenance breathes a maiculine feve- 
rity blended with ftoic calmueis. The 
fpot where Brutus fits retired is a corner 
on the right fide of the veftibule, and is 
but half lighted. Before the inner door 
of the houfe, accompanied by her two 
daughter:, and arrayed in ideal beauty, 
ftands the mother, who is come forth to 
learn from the father-judge the fate of her 
childven: when fhe beholds the lhétors at 
the gate, carrying ona bier the bieeding 
corie of one of her fons. 
This moment of action in the picture 
caufes the beholder to fhudder. Brutus, 
awaked from his profound meditations by 
the noife of the funereal train, has raifed 
his head which was fupported by his hand 
in the preceding act, and looks fteadily 
forward. The whole attitude of his body 
* Qvippe quum ftudere revocandis. in ur- 
bem ‘egibus liberos fuos comperiffet, pro- 
traxit in forum, et concione media virgis 
cecidit, et feeuri percuflit; ut plane publicus 
parens in locum liberorum adoptafle bi po- 
pulum videretur. Filorus, lib. i. cap. 9. 
+ As feveral paffages of Roman hiftory 
make mention of the pofterity of Brutus, the 
pamcer has given him daughters, 


Anecdotes of the Painter David. 
201 
betrays an interngl ftruggle. One of his 
hands, refting on his knee,forcibly crufhes 
the written decree of condemnation 
which is half unrolled; his legs. are 
croffed and drawn backwards in a con- 
vulfyve motion. As, in the Laocoon 
ftruggline with death, his painful fut 
ferings are vifible even in the toes, whick 
are contraéted and bent backward; fo, 
in Brutus, all the apparent imufcles of 
the body difplay the violent effort he 
makes to fubdue the deep forrow which 
penetrates his foul. The female group 
forms an admirable contraft with the 
fablime expreflion of the man. “The mo- 
ther, feeming to utter a fhrick at the 
fight of the funereal proceflion, extends 
her right hand towards the liftors, as if 
entreating them to itop. She leans for- 
ward in an adwancing attitude: but her 
daughters arreft her fteps. . They are 
both clofely prefled again her: the 
younger of the two falls ina {woon, andis 
fupported by her mother’s left hand placed 
under her arm. The elder, leaning back on 
her mother, and cailing a fideling look, 
places her hands, turned upwards, before 
her face, which is direéted towards the 
bloody {peétacle. David has pourtrayed 
the ineffable grief of the mother of the un- 
fortunate youth, and the terror of his 
fitters, with the moft eloquent, the moft 
fublime expreffion. The tout-cnjemble 
of this admirable group—the accurate 
defign of the naked parts, elpecially 
the hands and feet—the correct flow 
of the drapery—the beautiful fimpli- 
city in the architecture of the houte— 
the happy difpofition of the lights—every 
thing conftitutes it a matter-piece of alite 
In the captivating figure of the mother 
fupporting her fainting daughter, the art- 
ift feems to have had an eye to the group 
of Niobé, although the attitude is different. 
Ten years ago David painted the Oath 
of the Horatii, at Rome, where it was ex- 
hibited to the admiration of artilts, in the 
Academy of France. ‘The fimple and 
fublime compolition of that piece is weil 
known from feveral defcriptions which 
have been given of it. The greateft en- 
thufiafm is exprefied in the father, who 
adminilters the oath to his fons, and con- 
fecrates to the father of the gods the three 
{words which he holds brandifhed om 
high: courage, ftrength, and refolution, 
are the charaéteriftics of the three fons, 
who {wear either to conquer, or to die for- 
their country. The contrait of the wo- 
men immerfed in grief, and of the chil- 
dren carelefsly playing, excites emotion. 
The ordonnauce, the exprefiion, the com- 
. pofition, « - 
